Discovery BoxMatthew 23:13-16 
Context23:13 “But woe to you, experts in the law 1 and you Pharisees, hypocrites! 2 You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! 3 For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.
23:14 [[EMPTY]] 423:15 “Woe to you, experts in the law 5 and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, 6 and when you get one, 7 you make him twice as much a child of hell 8 as yourselves!
23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple is bound by nothing. 9 But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.’
Matthew 23:23
Context23:23 “Woe to you, experts in the law 10 and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth 11 of mint, dill, and cumin, 12 yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You 13 should have done these things without neglecting the others.
Matthew 23:27
Context23:27 “Woe to you, experts in the law 14 and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. 15
Matthew 23:29
Context23:29 “Woe to you, experts in the law 16 and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You 17 build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves 18 of the righteous.
1 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
2 tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so throughout this chapter).
3 tn Grk “because you are closing the kingdom of heaven before people.”
4 tc The most important
5 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
6 tn Or “one proselyte.”
7 tn Grk “when he becomes [one].”
8 tn Grk “a son of Gehenna.” Expressions constructed with υἱός (Juios) followed by a genitive of class or kind denote a person belonging to the class or kind specified by the following genitive (L&N 9.4). Thus the phrase here means “a person who belongs to hell.”
sn See the note on the word hell in 5:22.
9 tn Grk “Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing.”
10 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
11 tn Or “you tithe mint.”
12 sn Cumin (alternately spelled cummin) was an aromatic herb native to the Mediterranean region. Its seeds were used for seasoning.
13 tc ‡ Many witnesses (B C K L W Δ 0102 33 565 892 pm) have δέ (de, “but”) after ταῦτα (tauta, “these things”), while many others lack it (א D Γ Θ Ë1,13 579 700 1241 1424 pm). Since asyndeton was relatively rare in Koine Greek, the conjunction may be an intentional alteration, and is thus omitted from the present translation. NA27 includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.
14 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
15 sn This was an idiom for hypocrisy – just as the wall was painted on the outside but something different on the inside, so this person was not what he appeared or pretended to be (for discussion of a similar metaphor, see L&N 88.234; BDAG 1010 s.v. τοῖχος). See Deut 28:22; Ezek 13:10-16; Acts 23:3.
16 tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
17 tn Grk “Because you.” Here ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated.
18 tn Or perhaps “the monuments” (see L&N 7.75-76).
